It was a big night at the Banff Rockie Awards for the BBC, as the Brit pubcaster walked away with the $50,000 Global Television Grand Prize and a half-dozen category prizes. The presentation took place June 13 as part of the Banff World Television Festival.

The BBC’s Blackpool, which incorporates music and fantasy into a story about an arcade owner suspected of murder, was voted grand prize winner as top program by the awards jury, and also won the Rockie for best miniseries.

Toronto producer Peter Raymont’s Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire was also honored with a pair of Rockies, taking the best feature documentary prize and the inaugural best Canadian program award, sponsored by Playback.

Other Canadian wins include the National Film Board’s Tales from the Crib, for best animated program, and Serge Chapleau’s Et Dieu créa Laflaque, for best comedy. A special jury prize went to the CBC Passionate Eye doc Hana’s Suitcase: An Odyssey of Hope.

The $25,000 NHK President’s Prize for the program best exemplifying the creative use of HD technology went to the Finnish program L’Enfant et les Sortileges (The Bewitched Child). The cash award for the NHK President’s Prize, like the Global Television Grand Prize, goes to the program producers.

The BBC also took home Rockies for best information and current affairs program for Panorama: The New Killing Fields; best lifestyle program for What Not to Wear: Teenage Daughters; best performance program for Flashmob: The Opera; best unscripted entertainment program for Dragon’s Den; and best history and biography program for Storyville: House of Saud, coproduced with ARTE France.

Another British entry, Channel 4’s Not Only But Always, won in the made-for-television movie category.

Japan and the U.S. each won three Rockies, while France’s second win was a special jury prize for Envoyé Spécial – Traversée clandestine. Among the winners out of the U.S. was Desperate Housewives in the continuing series category.

Polish film The Magic Tree: Wooden Dog beat out a strong field to win the Rockie for best children’s program.

-www.banff2005.com